I examine the significance of clanship ties among mental health clinicians and patients in a counseling center on the Navajo Nation. Navajo clans are matrilineal, exogamous, and geographically dispersed social units. Clan relatives are expected to observe the rules of conduct embodied in the behavioral code of k’È. This code structures social interaction among clan relatives, obliging each party to employ intimate, age-appropriate kin designations in personal address and to act towards kinfolk compassionately and respectfully. I explore the ethical dilemmas that can arise when clinicians and Navajo patients invoke clan relatedness to shape the contours of their therapeutic relationships.
Aberle, D. F. (1961). Navaho. In D. M. Schneider & K. Gough (Eds.), Matrilineal kinship, (pp. 96–201). Berkeley: University of California Press.
2.
Aberle, D. F. (1982). The peyote religion among the Navajo(2nd ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. (Original published 1966)
3.
Aberle, D. F. (1983). Peyote religion among the Navajo. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), The handbook of North American Indians(Vol. 10, pp. 558–569). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press.
4.
Adair, J. , Deuschle K. W., & Barnett, C. R. (1988). The people’s health: Anthropology and medicine in a Navajo community. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. (Original published 1972)
5.
American Psychiatric Association . (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
6.
Aronilth, W. (1991). Foundation of Navajo culture. Tsaile, AZ: Navajo Community College.
7.
Benally, H. (1992). Spiritual knowledge for a secular society: Traditional Navajo spirituality offers lessons for the nation. Tribal College, 4, 19–22.
8.
Bluehorse, P. , & Zion, J. (1996) Hozhooji naat’aanii: the Navajo justice and harmony ceremony. In M. I Neilson, & R. A. Silverman (Eds.), Native Americans, crime, and justice(pp. 181–189). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
9.
Carrese, J. A. , & Rhodes, L. A. (1995). Western bioethics on the Navajo reservation: Benefit or harm?Journal of the American Medical Association, 274, 826–829.
10.
Csordas, T. J. (Ed.). (2000). Ritual healing in Navajo society [Special issue]. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 14(4).
11.
Csordas, T. J. , & Garrity, J. F. (1994). Co-utilization of biomedicine and religious healing: A Navajo case study. In W. Andritzky (Ed.), Yearbook of cross-cultural medicine and psychotherapy 1992(pp. 241–252). Berlin, Germany: Verlag fur Wissenschaft und Bildung.
12.
Epstein, R. S. (1994). Keeping boundaries: Maintaining safety and integrity in the psychotherapeutic process. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
13.
Farella, J. R. (1984). The main stalk: A synthesis of Navajo philosophy. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
14.
Finker, K. (1994). Sacred healing and biomedicine compared. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 8, 178–197.
15.
Gabbard, G. O. , & Wilkinson, S. M. (1994). Management of countertransference with borderline patients. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
16.
Goddard, P. (1933). Navajo texts. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, XXXIV(1).
17.
Kaufert, J. M. , & Putsch, R. W. (1997). Communication through interpreters in healthcare: Ethical dilemmas arising from differences in class, culture, language, and power. The Journal of Clinical Ethics, 8, 71–87.
18.
Kluckhohn, C. (1944). Navajo witchcraft. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
19.
Kluckhohn, C. , & Leighton, D. (1974). The Navajo(rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original published 1946)
20.
Kunitz, S. , & Levy J. E. (1981). Navajos. In A. Harwood (Ed.), Ethnicity and medical care(pp. 335–396). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
21.
Lamphere, L. (1977). To run after them: Cultural and social bases of cooperation in a Navajo community. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
22.
Leighton, A. H. , & Leighton, D. C. (1944). The Navajo door: An introduction to Navajo life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
23.
Levy, J. E. (1998). In the beginning: The Navajo genesis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
24.
Levy, J. E. , Neutra, R., & Parker, D. (1987). Hand trembling, frenzy witchcraft, and moth madness. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
25.
O’Bryan, A. (1956). The DinÈ: Origin myths of the Navajo Indians [Monograph]. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin163, 1–187.
26.
Preston, S. (1954). The clans. In R. W. Young & W. Morgan (Eds. and Trans.), Navajo historical selections(pp. 23–27). Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Indian School.
27.
Reichard, G. A. (1928). Social life of the Navajo Indians. New York: Columbia University Press.
28.
Reichard, G. A. (1950). Navajo religion: A study of symbolism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
29.
Roberts, L. , Battaglia, J., & Epstein, R. S. (1999). Frontier ethics: Mental health care needs and ethical dilemmas in rural communities. Psychiatric Services, 50, 497–503.
30.
Roberts, L. , Battaglia, J., Smithpeter, M., & Epstein, R. S. (1999). An office on main street: Health care dilemmas in small communities. Hastings Center Report, 29, 28–37.
31.
Sandoval, A. (1954). The different Navajo clans. In R. W. Young & W. Morgan (Eds. and Trans.), Navajo historical selections(pp. 20–22). Phoenix, AZ: Phoenix Indian School.
32.
Santiago-Irizarry, V. (1993). Medicalizing ethnicity: Bilingual bicultural psychiatric programs for Hispanics. Dissertation, New York University. New York.
33.
Shepardson, M. , & Hammond, B. (1970). The Navajo mountain community: Social organization and kinship terminology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
34.
Spencer, K. (1947). Reflection of social life in Navajo origin myth. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
35.
Stone, L. (1997). Kinship and gender: An introduction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
36.
Topper, M. D. , & Curtis, J. (1987). Extended family therapy: A clinical approach to the treatment of synergistic dual anomic depression among Navajo agencytown adolescents. Journal of Community Psychology15(3): 334–348.
37.
Willging, C. E. (1999). Power and cultural negotiation in the clinical practices of a Navajo mental health center.Dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
38.
Witherspoon, G. (1975). Navajo kinship and marriage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
39.
Witherspoon, G. (1977). Language and art in the Navajo universe. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
40.
Witherspoon, G. (1983). Language and reality in Navajo world view. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), The handbook of North American Indians(Vol. 10, pp. 570–558). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press.
41.
Yazzie, E. (1971). Navajo history(Vol.1). Rough Rock, AZ: Rough Rock Demonstration School, Navajo Curriculum Center.
42.
Zolbrod, P. (1984). DinÈ bahane’: The Navajo creation story. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
43.
Zussman, R. (2000). The contributions of sociology to medical ethics. Hastings Center Report, 30, 7–11.
